Brittany, your most important teacher misses you dearly and cannot believe you were taken so soon.

Brittany Murphy‘s former acting coach, Andrew Magarian, speaks to HollywoodLife.com about his student’s sudden death on Dec. 20, and remembers her as a star pupil with an infectious personality.

“Brittany had a lot to offer. She carried a special energy and was a true free spirit,” says Margarian, who has also mentored Adam Brody, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Kirsten Dunst, tells us.

The two began working together when Brittany was just 13 and developed a close relationship that carried on for more than a decade. Magarian last saw Brittany during the Uptown Girls press junket in 2003.